The months passed in relative normalcy. Or, at any case, they developed a sort of routine that made a passing glance at normalcy before bypassing it completely in favor of controlled chaos. Quite normal for the Goblin Kingdom.
The suitors that came to see if they could catch the Crown Princess's eye were multiplying. Quickly. It took about three months, but Sarah finally couldn't contain her curiosity any longer and commented on the men to Jareth.
"They're DG's suitors," he replied blandly as he sat sprawled over his throne.
"You mean to tell me that you're trying to marry off your fifteen-year-old niece!" Sarah was enraged with feminist indignation. She tapped her foot as she stood in front of the throne, hands on her hips menacingly.
Jareth gave her a look that clearly said he thought she was acting childish. "Really, Sarah. I don't expect her to marry any of those dolts."
"Then why are they here?" If she wasn't expected to marry any of them, then why were they even there in the first place?
"Because that's the way things are done among the monarchy, Sarah. In your own world the monarchs married off their children far younger than fifteen," he reminded her sharply as he sat up straight.
Sarah snapped her mouth shut. She hadn't looked at it that way, before. She was saved having to answer by the arrival of DG's personal guard, Coriander.
She bowed to her king and his bond-mate, "Your highness, something is wrong with Princess DG. She's convulsing in the practice yard, sire."
--
Azkadellia had finally done it: she had managed to escape from the palace and go for a walk by herself in the forest that guarded the front of Central City. She breathed in the cleaner air and smiled. It felt good to be by herself for a change. To not be surrounded by ten guards in a palace safer than any place else in the realm. Danger made her skin tingle in delight. She hadn't done anything remotely dangerous since that day in the forest when DG was five annuals old and together the sisters had melted the Evil Witch of the Dark.
She walked for almost an hour before deciding that it was probably best that she return to her room before her guards decided that her nap had gone on too long.
About half-way back, she heard a twig snap. She turned, her magick flaring before she caught sight of a rabbit hopping out onto the pathway. The princess smiled at the animal, her defenses dropping.
It was then that the net was dropped.
--
"Princess, you must keep your balance steady or your enemy will cause you to drop like a tree in a thunder storm!" the Captain of the Royal Guard told his pupil as they worked on hand to hand combat. Squee smiled tersely as Princess DG tried to readjust her balance again.
He approached her and tried to push her over, but she twisted her body and they began the fight again. It ended with DG on the ground. Squee nodded, "Better."
DG glared at him, pushing up on her elbows before her eyes rolled back in her head and her arms fell out from under her.
"Highness?" Squee asked, a worried frown creasing his hobgoblin features.
Her back rose off the ground as she began to convulse violently, a sharp light protruding from the center of her torso in a violent stream of colors.
He turned sharply to Coriander, an order on his lips for her to go get the King, only to find her already running into the castle in search of their monarch.
King Jareth approached swiftly, his bond-mate and the guard only steps behind him. He knelt in the dust beside his niece, noticing first the wildly violent colors streaming from her torso. His hand covered the light with his own magick, calming the irate magick as best he could.
"Uncle?" he heard a whisper from the ground next to him.
He gave her a questioning look, his hand removing itself from her torso with a motion, "What is this, DG?"
She pulled on the chain around her neck, pulling up the necklace that lay hidden. Jareth fingered it, feeling the mixed magicks within. He raised an eyebrow but said nothing as he let it fall on the outside of DG's shirt and vest.
"What happened?" he asked her as he helped her sit up.
She stood swiftly, her eyes revealing how close she was to panic. "Az is in danger."
--
Queen Nesa was in conference with the commanders of her army when she felt two rifts in the magick current surrounding the Central City palace.
She looked up in shock as both her brother and younger daughter appeared. Both were in a rage. Jareth stayed back as DG stalked toward her mother.
The princess placed both hands on the table in front of the older Queen. "Where. Is. Azkadellia?"
Nesa frowned, "In her room, resting before the ball tonight."
DG brought down a fist on the table, causing her mother to start. "No she's not."
The Queen motioned for two of the guards to go check on her daughter. "Dearest, calm down."
She shook her head, backing away from the table and looking at each one of the men and women sitting there. "The greatest military commanders in the O.Z. and you couldn't even keep your own daughter safe." DG glared at her coldly, "You want to know where she is, Mother? She's been kidnapped by King Le Monté's spies."
"How can you know that?" one of the Colonel's at the table questioned.
DG turned to face him and was momentarily struck by what she felt. There was a stirring in her heart. She wasn't sure what it was, but as she had never felt anything other than passing notice in any man before, she was inclined to take notice. "We share a bond," DG said shortly.
The guards returned with worried looks on their faces. "The Princess Azkadellia is missing," one of them confirmed with a shake of his head.
Jareth spoke for the first time since he had arrived at the meeting, "There is a platoon of Goblin soldiers ready and waiting to follow Princess DG and rescue Princess Azkadellia." His eyes flickered to his sister's, "With or without your own men."
Queen Aerenesa bristled at the slight, her back straightening. "Colonel Cain," she addressed one of her best commanders, "You will take another platoon of soldiers on this rescue mission and provide the necessary retaliation to King Le Monté's forces."
"Yes, your highness," Cain said, a lump rising in his throat at the prospect of spending time with this slip of a girl who made his heart beat faster than it had in years.
--
A cup of water was sloshed her way, causing half of the contents to spill. "Drink up, Highness," the mocking voice said in the prevailing darkness.
Az stiffened, her bound hands raising the cup to her lips. The collar she was wearing may be blocking her own magick, but it could not block the magick coming from the pendant she wore. A pendant that would not allow her to be poisoned by ruffians sent by an enemy king.
"I should warn you," she said after quenching her thirst, "They will come for me. And when they do, you will beg for mercy."
Laughter met her words. "Why beg for mercy from a Queen whose only power is the Prince Consort behind her?"
The bound woman shook her head, "She is not the one from whom you will beg."
--
The ride east was long and tiring for all involved, and the princess was no exception. Although she tried to hide it, after two days hard riding, with at least a few more days to go in order to reach the location DG could feel the other pendant pulsing from, the princess was sore and desperately yearned for a hot bath.
When they stopped for the night DG motioned for Coriander, General Dugan, and Colonel Cain to approach. "We're getting close," DG told them. "Princess Azkadellia is being held a little north east of where we are now. We should be able to reach the hideout with a day and a half hard riding."
Dugan nodded, "I'll send scouts to check for enemy combatants in the area." He gave her a playful smirk, "Wouldn't do to have you in danger when your uncle left you in my charge."
"You forget yourself, General," Coriander replied for the Crown Princess, "She is within my care as much as she is yours."
"I'll let my men know that we're getting close," Cain said, trying to ignore the banter between the two goblin soldiers.
DG nodded, sending him on his way. She turned her attention to Dugan, "Is there pool nearby where I could bath? My body's not used to such hard riding."
Dugan nodded, his mouth quirking into a smile again, "I've already sent Hopper, Ink, and Blot to look for a suitable location, your highness. They should be back soon."
"Thank you, General. For now, I believe I'll see to setting up a silencing spell around the perimeter of the camp. Care to join me, Coriander?" Although it was phrased as a question, both the princess and the hobgoblin knew that DG would not have been allowed to travel the perimeter of the camp alone.
--
The men watched the princess travel with her guard in a circle around the camp. There was no denying that the young woman was beautiful, with the promise of becoming a curvy woman with sinewy limbs and graceful movements. As the men set up their tents Cain heard a number of them comment on what they'd like to do to the princess if given the chance. Very few of the comments heard held any decency in them.
Cain thought again on the young woman - no, girl - that he was getting to know over the long ride to rescue her sister. He remembered her as a little girl, from a time before when he was a Tin Man and she the youngest princess of the O.Z.
For some reason unknown to him, the very sight of the now Crown Princess of the Goblin Realm sent his heart racing in a way it hadn't even done when he had been courting Adora. She was beautiful, as the men said, with the ability for both compassion and cruelty that made his skin heat. Cain didn't just want to know her, he wanted to possess her.
What scared him the most was that he didn't even know why.
--
DG stepped into the water of the pool that Blot had found, using a touch of magick to warm the waters to a comfortable level. It wouldn't hurt the fish and other marine life, but it would allow her aching muscles the ability to relax again. She picked up the bar of soap Coriander had given her, knowing that it, as well, was safe for the marine life, and a razor she had retrieved from her bag. After she was clean, DG relaxed in the warm waters, letting her mind wander.
When she felt like a prune, she got out of the water and dried off, brushing her hair into a braid, before dressing in a loose pair of un-dyed linen pants held in place by a drawstring, and a white breast band that allowed her freedom of movement as she stretched out her muscles.
Sufficiently limber, DG lowered herself to the ground, intent on communing with the Labyrinth.
"Why do you seek us out, our Daughter?" the Land asked her in the musical voice that often visited her in her sleep.
DG approached the female avatar, "I believe I have found my bond-mate."
"You have," the Land confirmed, cocking the avatar's head. "Why do you seek us out?" she repeated.
"I wish to know why he was chosen," DG said, her voice firm.
"It was necessary that there be a third to complete the bonding. He was chosen because of the past that never was, and the future that never will be."
Her heart beat fast as she digested this news. "Show me."
"Memories given cannot be taken away - even of what has never been and never will be."
"Show me," she repeated her demand. She added softer, "Please. I need to know why he was chosen."
"Very well."
Immediately DG was given fifteen years worth of memories of events that never happened and never would happen because of different choices made. She saw herself let go of Azkadellia; she saw her beloved sister kill her in her sleep; she saw Wyatt Cain's family taken from him by a sneering man named Zero; she saw the rich, fertile lands of the O.Z. fall into disrepair and turmoil at the hands of the Evil Witch of the Dark; she saw herself free Cain from his tin suit prison; she saw Cain protect her at all costs; she saw the friendship between herself, Cain, a half-brained Ambrose, and a Viewer called Raw.
She saw this all, and she cried.
With a gasp DG's consciousness was back in her body and she looked around the clearing with misty eyes. The past that never was and the future that never will be.
And because of it, Wyatt Cain had been chosen to be her life-mate.
A/N: Someone asked if the timeline featured in the miniseries would play a role in this. Now you know. Just wait until Wyatt finds out. Tehehe. No, no, really, just wait until the shit hits the fan, so to speak.